2010 NCAA Tournament Preview: MIDWEST Bracket

2010 NCAA Tournament

This is my NCAA Tournament preview, I’ve listed the first round match-ups below as well as some words of wisdom. Some interesting match-ups going down early!

MIDWEST Bracket (St. Louis)

No. 1 Kansas vs. No. 16 Lehigh (3/18)
No. 8 UNLV vs. No. 9 Northern Iowa (3/18)
No. 5 Michigan State vs. No. 12 New Mexico State (3/19)
No. 4 Maryland vs. No. 13 Houston (3/19)
No. 6 Tennessee vs. No. 11 San Diego State (3/18)
No. 3 Georgetown vs. No. 14 Ohio U. (3/18)
No. 7 Oklahoma State vs. No. 10 Georgia Tech (3/19)
No. 2 Ohio State vs. No. 15 UC-Santa Barbara (3/19)

I see this as a pretty cut and dry bracket all the way up until the Sweet 16. The first two rounds should end up with the top seeds advancing, or without many surprises. Kansas’s trip to the Sweet 16 is one of the easiest in the country, and it probably should be. None of those 3 teams they’ll be facing/possibly facing will give them any trouble.

The 5 and 4 seed should both advance, and honestly, I’ll give the advantage to the Spartans in that 4 vs 5 battle. They have a deeper team, and while Vasquez is a legit college star, the Spartans can get it done from lots of spots, and they play tougher.

Tennessee should beat San Diego State, but with the Vols, that lack of focus could haunt them early. Still, they easily have SDSU out manned. Georgetown will have no problem with Ohio. The 3 vs 6 match-up will be tough, but I think Georgetown has scorers to get by Tennessee and a big man to open up the court. Tough match-up for Tennessee I think, except that they are tough.

Ohio State should have been a 1-seed over Duke, because they are better than the Blue Devils. However, they are a 2 seed and while they play one of two talented teams in the Round of 32, they should ride Evan Turner’s elite ability and get to the Sweet 16 without too much trouble, they are playing basically home games for the first two rounds.

Kansas should beat Michigan State because they are better at the things the Spartans do well. Tough match-up there. This is where the Jayhawks bracket gets tough, though, as both Georgetown and Ohio State could easily scoot past Kansas. I don’t think Georgetown can stop the Buckeyes from scoring, and that could be the difference. An Ohio State vs Kansas Elite 8 game would give the nod to Kansas, and I think they win this bracket.